


Dr. Habit's Final Act of Dentistry

by Mattecat



Category: Smile For Me (Video Game)
Genre: Dentistry, Gen, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Flower Kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 04:51:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19716562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mattecat/pseuds/Mattecat
Summary: After the Habitat, the florist's kid is afraid of the dentist. Somehow, the only person they trust to help them with their tooth pain is Dr. Habit himself.





	Dr. Habit's Final Act of Dentistry

**Author's Note:**

> hi. i liked this game. I'm unsure of how to characterize dr. habit, so future fics may characterize him differently. enjoy!
> 
> some flower kid headcanons in this fic: their name is literally flower, they're nonbinary & mute, and they communicate through sign language. that's all.

Boris Habit had expected to leave his dentistry career with the Habitat – that is, behind him. One those doors closed for good – after opening to let everyone out, of course – he had locked up all his dental equipment, attempted to return his stolen teeth to their proper owners, stopped attempting that because Kamal said it was creepy, and picked up gardening again. The florist had even hired him after her child vouched for him. Wow! Boris thought. They had been serious about being friends! Incredible!

Life did not go back to the normal it had been for Boris, but it became a new sort of normal, a pleasant one. Maybe even a better one. Scratch that, _definitely_ a better one, because he wasn't a dentist anymore.

That day, the florist left her child in charge of the shop, so Flower stuck one of the other employees at the register and tried to convince Boris to ditch work with them. "Absolutely not," Boris said sternly. "You _know_ how important this job is to me! I will not do anything to jeopardize it."

He pointedly looked back at the new seedlings he was transplanting. Flower huffed and tapped his shoulder to get him to look again.

"You're off work in half an hour," they signed. "I can fake the punch card if you want."

"I don't want! I with have nothing to do with hooligan-ry and antics and forging punch cards." He smiled. "But perhaps, hm, I can leave, within fifteen minutes of my end of shift? Your mother told me that was allowed."

Flower beamed at him and darted out of the back room. Hopefully they would get back to work, but he wasn't the boss of them. Actually, Boris was pretty sure they were his boss.

Ten minutes before his shift ended, Boris clocked out and put his coat on over his uniform. "Where are we going?" he asked Flower.

"Ice cream," Flower signed.

"Oh, how nice!" Boris smiled. "Which one of us is paying?"

"You paid last time. I'll pay this time."

They left the shop. Boris filled the air with chatter while Flower listened and nodded or shook their head as appropriate. The ice cream stand was only a short walk away, and didn't take long to reach – Flower raised their hands to sign something, then seemed to decide against it and ran up ahead. When Boris caught up, Flower was giving their orders.

"You do remember what I like, right?" he asked.

Flower nodded and signed something Boris didn't understand.

"Sorry, I didn't catch that."

"M-I-N-T C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E C-H-I-P," Flower spelled out.

"Yes, that's correct! Can you sign it again? I'm not familiar with that one…"

They got their ice cream without incident and sat down to eat it. Flower's hands were busy spooning ice cream to their mouth as fast as possible, so Boris didn't try to make conversation and instead focused on his own treat.

His attention turned back to Flower when they squeaked and clapped their hand to their mouth. "What's wrong?" Boris said in alarm. "Was there something in the ice cream? Should I stop eating mine?"

Flower shook their head. "Cold," they signed.

"Oh." A thought occurred to him. "Oh, dear, is one of your teeth sensitive to cold? You should probably talk to your dentist about that."

Again, they shook their head. Boris frowned. "You really, really should, really. It could mean you have a cavity close to a nerve, and if it gets worse, you might need a root canal, which is never fun. I do still know a lot about dental hygiene."

"I don't want to," Flower signed, and they went back to eating their ice cream.

Boris couldn't let it rest at that. "You need to! I know firsthand that dentists are unpleasant, but it is very important you take care of your teeth."

Flower sighed and put down their spoon. "Not all dentists," they signed. "You're nice, now."

"I am also no longer a dentist. When was the last time you saw a real dentist?"

They hesitated for a long time, their hands hovering in front of them, before they answered. "Before the Habitat."

"Oh," said Boris. Then, "Oh, no. Is this my fault?"

Flower didn't answer. They didn't need to. Boris held his head in his hands; of course they were avoiding the dentist. The last "dentist" visit they had was at the Habitat, when Dr. Habit had strapped them down and taken out their teeth. No wonder they hadn't gone to the dentist since, they were traumatized!

He felt Flower put a hand on his arm. Boris peeked out at them through his fingers. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I know I said it before, but I really, really am. It's a wonder you're friends with me at all…"

"You could do it," Flower signed.

"Do what?"

"I don't want to go to the dentist," they signed, "but I trust you. You could do it."

Boris took a moment to process this. "But I'm the reason you can't see a dentist!" he said, putting his hands down hard on the table. "At least other dentists won't steal your teeth!"

"Will you?"

"Of course not, you know that."

Flower beamed at him. "See," they signed. "You should do it."

Boris did not want to do it, but then again… if Flower was in pain because of what he did, however indirectly, wouldn't it be his responsibility to help them?

"Okay," he said. "Tomorrow after work, then. And make sure your mother knows where you'll be – I don't want you going in some strange man's house without telling anyone."

"I'm an adult," Flower signed.

"Yes, and I'm still old enough to be your father." The thought made Boris cringe – he didn't want to imagine having that sort of power over someone, let alone Flower. "Our ice cream's half melted," he said before Flower could notice anything was wrong. "Let's finish up. I should be home, hm, soon."

Flower frowned, but dropped the subject.

* * *

Before going to bed, Boris took his dentistry tools out of storage and cleaned them. He'd sterilize them properly once Flower was there, but they had so much dust, he wanted to get them as clean as possible beforehand. It wasn't a pleasant experience, handling them again, but if this was what Flower needed, Boris would do it for them.

After getting the go-ahead from their mom, Flower arrived at Boris' house. "You have a nice garden," they signed when Boris opened the door. "You've been taking care of it."

"Of course I have, what do you take me for?" Boris smiled. "Come on in! Are you, uh, ready?"

Flower nodded and walked inside, looking around. The dental chair was right inside the living room, with marks on the rug from Boris dragging it out. They hesitated at the sight of it, pausing their steps and eyeing it warily.

"It doesn't have to be me who does this," Boris said. "You could go to a real dentist. I wouldn't mind putting all my stuff back, haha!"

Flower twisted their hands together and signed nothing.

"Do you want to call it off?"

Flower shook their head. "I want you to do this," they signed. "I don't trust anyone else."

Boris took a deep breath. "Okay," he said. "Sit down, and I'll be out in a moment."

He stepped out of the room and gathered up his tools. He had to take another moment to mentally prepare himself, recalling all the dentistry he learned. Most of it might not be relevant, but it was good to remember, right?

Boris reentered the room, dental equipment in hand. Flower was seated in the chair. They had picked up one of Boris' books off the shelf and started to flip through it. "You can borrow that afterwards!" Boris said brightly. "If you want to, anyway."

They jerked their head up to stare at him with wide eyes. Boris' smile faltered. "We should get started," he said. "Hm, maybe you should put that aside for now. Are you ready?"

Flower carefully placed the book on the floor and nodded.

"Alright-y!" Boris attempted his smile again, with moderate success. "Open your mouth, please!"

He checked all of Flower's teeth, including the implants put in after Boris had, well, stolen the originals. Since they were artificial, there wouldn't be any risk of cavities, but there was still a chance the gums could've been infected. They looked healthy, though, and the real problem was in one of the remaining teeth.

"This is a cavity," he said. "If it's sensitive to cold, then it could need a root canal. Hm, I'm going to take an x-ray."

He stepped back and was about to leave the room when Flower clapped their hands. Once they had his attention, they signed, "You have an x-ray machine in your house?"

"Only for dentistry!" Boris said quickly, hoping that made it better. "I had it with my other equipment in… well, it might take a while for me to get it out of storage. Rinse your mouth and read the book while you wait."

The x-ray machine was large and clunky, and it took a while to drag it out into the main room, at which point Boris realized he didn't have the lead covering and went right back out again. "Here we go!" he said once everything was hooked up to his computer, and he placed the covering over Flower's chest. "Here, bite down on this – it's sterile, don't worry…"

After the x-ray, the digital imaging didn't show up at first. Boris refreshed the program and it appeared. "Oh, thank goodness," he said. "It's just a cavity – it hasn't reached a nerve, I mean. Deep, but manageable, no root canal required. Do you want me to fill it now?"

Flower nodded.

"Okay," said Boris. "I'll get this over with as soon as possible, I promise!"

He made the executive decision to give Flower novocaine instead of laughing gas. They didn't argue.

The filling went smoothly enough, though Boris couldn't ignore how tense Flower's body was, how they flinched when his hands made an unexpected move. He kept quiet, only speaking to give Flower the instructions he needed to complete the procedure. Then it was done, and Boris stood up straight.

"There!" he said. "My final act of dentistry is complete."

Flower rubbed their numb cheek and frowned at him.

"Don't look at me like that," Boris said. "I'm glad I did this for you before it got worse, but you absolutely must see a real dentist from now on."

"Sorry," Flower signed.

"You've done nothing wrong, friend!" Boris laughed. "I don't know where I'd be if you hadn't come to my Habitat. Now, you should be heading home, and I need to put these things away for good."

Flower nodded and climbed out of the chair. "I'll help," they signed.

Boris had half a mind to send them home immediately, but there was no harm if they stayed a while longer. The two of them put the tools aside to clean, dragged the dental chair back into the closet, and sat in the kitchen, talking and drinking tea until the novocaine worse off. When it was time to go, Flower gave him one big smile before they left.

Alone in the house, Boris stood at the sink to wash the tools. "What a note to end my dentistry career on!" he said to himself. "Maybe now I can put it all behind me."

He placed everything on the drying rack and went outside to tend to his garden.

**THE END**


End file.
